So Near, yet so Far
by Alfala
Summary: After the killing blow at the Northern Crater, Sephiroth and Cloud are offered a second life: However, if one dies, so will the other, so both enemies have to hold back their desire to kill each other and learn with the errors of the past. Non-yaoi
1. The Meeting

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Nope. I don't.

Rated T for mild language and the "occasional" violence.

Sephiroth and Cloud, but no yaoi whatsoever. Hints of CloudxTifa

Summary: With the final blow at the Northern Crater, Sephiroth dragged Cloud with him to the Realms of Death. While travelling on the Lifestream, the Goddess herself and the Ancients offer them a second chance to life and bind their destinies together. If one dies, so will the other, so both enemies have to find a way to calm their hatred and learn with the errors of the past.

* * *

So Near, yet so Far

_The Meeting_

Cloud was very optimistic. By the first time in his life, he was sure that he could _actually_ beat his enemy. Sephiroth had to pay – for Nibelheim and for Aerith. Deep inside of him, Cloud felt that the road had reached its end, and that a rough weight would be lifted from his shoulders as soon as his sword struck Sephiroth's chest. After all, love was paid in love, and blood was paid in blood. And Sephiroth's blade had shed too much blood to appeal for Cloud's forgiveness.

He advanced towards his nemesis. Looking at Sephiroth triggered that memory of five years ago, when the general walked into the fire – a fire being fed with the essence of Nibelheim.

The void surrounded them and Cloud felt a strange pressure in his ears, his head throbbing with pain – a spell casted by Sephiroth, he assumed. He advanced, dragging his feet forward, in an attempt to survive. Cloud raised his sword in the direction of his enemy and Sephiroth mimicked his gesture, grabbing the hilt of Masamune and lifting it above his shoulder. A smirk formed on the general's lips; Cloud trembled with anger, feeling a new power erupting from him and travelling through his body. A dangerous power, capable of great things – of creating and destroying.

"Are you ready, Cloud?" Sephiroth asked, tense. His tone was deep, wise, but with a little tingle of insanity that made his voice tremble slightly. Cloud had known the general before he was driven into madness. At least, he _partially_ knew him. The sight of his enemy filled him with disgust. Sephiroth added: "Are you prepared to acknowledge the end of your journey?"

"I don't know about my end, but I'm sure you'll meet yours!"

The sound of swords clashing filled the silence around them. Both of them were tired, exhausted from their struggling before; Sephiroth's muscles were pained due to the transformations he suffered earlier and to the years and years of slumber within the crater. Cloud was just tired of his journey, of the problems of his heart and the problems of his consciousness. He never imagined that he would spend his last, glorious battle counting the seconds to its end.

However, the end was quicker than he thought.

A golden light emerged from Cloud's sword, and, between the intense rays of the light, he saw phantom replicas of his blade surround his enemy. He felt puzzled – that power came from him? Did he have such strength within his body? Sephiroth opened his mouth in shock, presuming what was coming next. One of the blades slashed quickly through the general's body and a long cut formed from his left hip to his shoulder – the man didn't have time to look at the wound before another sword hit his back, slashing his skin roughly. Cloud watched from afar, stepping back involuntarily from the scene, his tired eyes filled with the extreme light.

Then, when Sephiroth got down on his knees, letting the blades penetrate and slash his skin, Cloud thought briefly that the man would give in. However, for his surprise, Sephiroth's eyes turned abruptly to the blond, a new shine formed within its depths.

"I will not let you live, Cloud Strife!" he pronounced, lifting his hand towards his nemesis. Unwillingly, Cloud felt his body moving towards the general, his feet dragging beneath him. He wanted to back away, but the force pulling him towards the man was too powerful.

With the petty strength that still remained within Sephiroth, he was able to pull Cloud next to him and between the younger man's kicks and punches, he lifted Masamune and buried the blade in the blond's stomach.

Cloud cried in pain, his head aiming to explode, the blood trailing down his shirt and soaking his clothing. A brief image of Aerith's death surged in his mind and the anger grew even more powerful. Another image, of himself being stabbed in the Mako Reactor, paused before his eyes, as if trying to send him a message. So it would end the same way it begun? "How…How could you?" he stuttered nervously. Sephiroth dropped Masamune, and Cloud fell to the floor, the blade still piercing his stomach. Holding no strength to take the sword out, he curled into a ball, his hands gripping his skull, fighting the throbbing pain that penetrated his head. His mind reeling, he looked at the general's face, covered in blood, sweat and something worst – rage, perhaps. A man who wishes to be a God would think that death itself was the worst punishment for his crimes.

Cloud only understood that Sephiroth wasn't the only one who failed to win the battle, when he felt a strange white light breach his mind.

The world around him vanished.

* * *

When he woke up, Sephiroth tried to cry out, to scream in outrage as he clawed desperately to the emptiness, feeling no air enter his lungs. As he slowly started to breathe again, he became aware of a soft blanket beneath his body. He did not dare to open his eyes; the light penetrating through his lids was pale and timid and his last memories evaded his brain in torturing waves. Everything he remembered was the pain and the taste of blood in his mouth. The golden light had surrounded him and that power, a power almost palpable between his fingers had shrunk him into a much more embarrassing form of life. He found himself helpless and powerless in front of the boy – if he was to die, than he would take his enemy with him, and both would share the same punishment.

The general opened his eyes; after all, what he took for a blanket was a soft bed of very tiny flowers, the color of blue and yellow. Young trees surrounded him, forming a circle around the spot where he was laying. The sky above him was not blue, but a soft gold and there was no way to say if it was day or night. Bright stars shone down from the skies, casting a soft glow on the trees and flowers surrounding him. He travelled more around the world than anyone else on Gaia but was unable to recall that place.

"For this place does not belong in your world, Sephiroth." A voice answered his thoughts from behind. The general turned, finding a woman standing near a tree. She was dressed in white and golden and her fair hair framed her lovely face. However, the wisdom of her eyes denied the youth of her face. Sephiroth cringed before the new presence, finding Masamune nowhere in sight. Also, he didn't felt the power of materia in his blood. For the first moment in his life, the general felt completely off-guard.

"Here you will not fight" the woman stated "here you will not have to power to commit your crimes. Here you will be humble, and you will listen at the opportunities that are given to you."

Opportunities? He didn't have opportunities. He was a murderer, a sinner, a God. He had the power to create opportunities, not to take them gratefully. And where the hell was he?

"Where I am?" he demanded. His face, normally expressionless, started to fill with uneasiness.

The woman smiled softly and with a small step, shortened the distance between them. Sephiroth, alarmed, stepped back, and raised his arms in a fighting stance. It was only then, however, that he noticed the scars on his arms and chest, already white. His fingers traced along the length of the scars. It was if long years have passed since the fight – such wounds needed time to heal themselves to that state. Another question formed in his head: how much time had he been laying there?

"You're in the past, but however, you are in the future. Also, this is the present. What your world would be if it wasn't poisoned by the fire and drained out of the energy that the ancestors gave it. Right here where you are standing, Sephiroth, would be the center of the city that you once served, so faithfully.

_Midgar_, he thought. This is what the planet would be if humans hadn't take out all of its power. Sephiroth's fist clenched in anger.

"Do you have more questions?" she asked, tilting her head gently.

"Of course" he mumbled. "You didn't answer my question. Where _exactly_ am I? And who are you? Where's my sword? And how much time have I been here? And… am I dead?"

She laughed smoothly and crossed her hands in her lap. "Consider this as an image of the Lifestream. Perhaps this is what you always imagined as the Promised Land – consequently, you have entered your Realm of Death. Your sword is still on the physical world, next to your body. I am the Goddess, Goddess of the Ancients and ancestors of Gaia. Some humans on Gaia happened to worship me, without even knowing my message, or my true place on the Scale of All Great Things. Long ago, you had a friend that devoted himself to me didn't you, Sephiroth?

"Genesis" he muttered. So the tales were true – the Goddess existed, and she was the one to decide on the fates of all men. Could a god like him, Sephiroth, rule besides a goddess that had been governing the universe since the beginning of things? He pondered about that question briefly.

"In the Lifestream there's no time, so I will never be able to inform you about how much time you've been here. Understand that after the battle, Sephiroth, you actually died in the physical world. But your soul, as well as all the souls of living beings, started its journey across the Lifestream. You could only wake up after your body was fully healed."

So he was dead. At least, in Gaia, he was dead. The stupid boy was actually able to defeat him. The stupid boy… yes, what about the puppet?

"And the puppet?" he asked bluntly. Seeing the puzzled expression on the Goddess' soft face, he added, with such poison in his tongue as if the name were the foulest of words: "Where's Cloud?"

"He's coming." She said looking at a corridor made of trees. "Look, there he is."

Cloud emerged from the forest, his torso bared. Across his stomach was written a vicious line, provoked by Sephiroth's wound. The scar was colored white and had a healthy glow to it. Sephiroth looked at his enemy, bitterly. On the other side, Cloud instantly took a defensive position, raising his fists to the level of his chest, just as Sephiroth did when he first met the Goddess. The boy met his gaze with fierce eyes and then bowed before the Goddess. The general, however, held no respect for the unknown entity, so he didn't bother to look at the ground or bend over. After all, he was a god, a descendent from the mighty people of the Cetra.

"What's the point in having both of us here?" he asked, sighing deeply. Cloud's presence annoyed him so much that he wondered if his control would sustain much longer. He had a big desire to choke the boy to death. He thought why he was holding back. _Because he's already dead_, he reminded himself with slight disappointment.

"The point is" she started "You, Sephiroth, have walked swiftly your entire life. Swiftly, but without purpose. Your life was spent in the beliefs of others, and in the tales that others written in your head. You accepted all of them willingly, walking blindly to achieve your goals. The ultimate destruction was the last resource of your contentment – after all, you like great things, like destruction or creation. You opted for destruction to achieve creation. On the other hand, Cloud was raised under your image – he wanted to be like you, to have your strength, your discipline and your importance. After all, he never found himself, because your shadow always encumbered him. That made him follow you everywhere – because as you live, he will live, and when he dies, you will die."

The Goddess tried to find any sign of acknowledgment in their expressions, but finding none, she proceeded.

"Long ago, Sephiroth, you were a hero and you, Cloud, wished to be one. Now, in you struggle to defeat your arch-enemy, you lost that wish, and that desire to defeat him, turned you blind. You're blind, both of you. Struggling for your own goal, but never thinking about others. So what went wrong in your paths?"

Cloud was looking at the Goddess numbly, his wrist twitching. Sephiroth, _Sephiroth_, was right next to him, for God's Sake! He hated the man so much! How could a kindhearted Goddess be so condescending to a murderer? Why wasn't Sephiroth paying for his crimes already?

"The Council reunited" she informed "and a decision was made."

Sephiroth's mind was racing. A decision?

"The Council decided to give both of you a new opportunity."

Sephiroth's heart sank. An opportunity? A new life? For everything that Sephiroth most desired in life was to be rid of the pain, and to rule over a dead world as a dead god, and now, his ancestors willingly offered him life? If that was the punishment for his crimes, than it surely was cruel.

While Sephiroth looked depressed, Cloud looked shocked: "That means that we are going back to the Planet? It means we never died?"

The Goddess nodded. She watched the reactions of both men: In Cloud's face surged a flash of hope and new dreams formed inside his head. Maybe a change to redeem himself, to pay in hard work, blood, sweat and tears for Aerith's death – for being the culprit of her fall. And to take the chance to express his feelings for Tifa – something he never did, even when he went to the final battle, knowing that he probably would never come out alive. Ironic thinking about that. However, it was a different feeling that appeared in Sephiroth's expression – was it despair, mixed with the grief of coming back? Coming back to a world that wished to see him dead?

"You look desolated, Sephiroth" The Goddess commented, slightly concerned about the general's reaction. "Why don't you feel flattered by this new opportunity to make things right?"

Sephiroth looked at her angrily. "I would never want to come back to a world that doesn't want me in. I waited for death and you now offer me with open arms a life that many would have wished for. Why don't you let me die?"

The Goddess smiled gently. This irritated the general even more. "Don't you think that you have run enough in your life, Sephiroth? You ran away from your past, and you ran away from knowing the truth about yourself. Then you ran away, going into a deep slumber in the Northern Crater, knowing that your servants would make your job for you. All of the greatness you wish for yourself is just an excuse to run away again. Don't you want to set things right?"

The general compressed his lips into a thin line. The rage was pulsing inside of him.

"What about the revenge? The revenge on Shin-Ra and the man who hid your true past?" the Goddess added.

Sephiroth's heart skipped a beat. Hojo. He almost forgot about him. That stupid bastard who claimed to do everything for science. The desire in Sephiroth's heart to see him dead and suffering was so big that he thought momentarily that a second chance wasn't that bad at all. And Shin-Ra. Shin-Ra would also pay for the damage done to him. Shin-Ra would pay for the secrets, and for the lies. And Cloud – Cloud would pay for the humiliation. The general's face lightened up with anticipation. A new fire burned in his eyes.

"I see that both of you have acknowledged the opportunities that this new life may grant you." She looked at them with cautious eyes. "However, there are rules, and I'll establish them right now. And I ask you both to listen to me with attention, because a misstep may put your opportunity in risk."

Sephiroth curled his toes, feeling the grass beneath them. Every muscle of his legs, torso and arms was in pain; the full recovery of his wounds was yet to come. However, it's hard to pay attention to anyone when our limbs are twisting in pain and our lungs can barely keep the air within our body.

The Goddess continued:

"You'll come back to life together. When a resurrection is done, it transports one soul at a time to Gaia. However, this time the Council and I are breaking the rules and sending two souls back on earth. That means that inevitably you'll be bound to each other."

Cloud swallowed dryly – be connected to Sephiroth? Be connected to Sephiroth in _any way_? He knew something bad was about to come.

"Take the ideas of revenge out of your mind, Sephiroth. If you kill Cloud, you'll die. If Cloud kills you, he dies. And then both of you will atone for your crimes as if this second chance were never given to you. You, Sephiroth, will possess the duty to protect Cloud at all costs – if you fail, your chance will be over. You, Cloud, will possess the duty to protect Sephiroth. Also, if you fail, your chance will be over."

Sephiroth heart sank again – that meant travelling with one of the men that he most hated on that bloody world! That meant that he almost had to care about him, and _protect _him! How sickening could that be? He couldn't look at Cloud twice without fighting the urge to kill him with a quick stab. His mind raced with confusion, denial and pure shock. Then, he felt the fragments of his lost sanity shouting to be heard. He mused temporarily if there was any chance that that conversation was only part of a surreal and mad dream. His good sense – if he possessed any – said no.

"That means that… we'll have to act together" Cloud concluded, also shocked. "I can't. I can't stand next to him; I can't stand his presence."

The Goddess tilted her head again, her fingers playing distractedly with a golden ring. "There's nothing I can do. Rules are rules, and you must obey them. Accept this as a new life, and a new chance to start all over again – although you already have roots on Gaia, and must follow them to shape a completely different story. I know you are able to do that – you've achieved so many great things – good and bad – and your pride, stubbornness and discipline obliges you to take this chance and follow it until the end. I have faith on you both."

Sephiroth stepped forward "But what's the goal of all this - giving life back to a man who killed everyone in his path, and to a man blinded with a desire to make everything right. What do you think we will find throughout this new journey?"

"I don't know what you will find" the Goddess answered, a bit surprised by the question. She sensed the dark mood of the men in front of her. "But you will find something. And what you'll find will be vital for the balance of the world. So in the name of the Council of Ancients, and in my name, I ask of you to accept our offer. Please, make things right."

"Everything will fall into place." Cloud muttered, turning down into one thoughtful frown. But the price of that freedom was incredibly high – to be with the man he most despised on the planet, and to control the need to end his life. Cloud's biggest desire was to make Sephiroth pay for Aerith's death, for Nibelheim's destruction and for everyone he killed on his way. And now the Goddess, the Cetra and the Lifestream itself had denied that chance. Cloud asked himself if there was anything to fight for, now that his enemy was bound to him in such way. He wished to have Red XIII by his side right now – his friend always offered insightful advice in times of need. But Aerith – Aerith always defended a path of righteousness and defended the truth no matter what. The flower girl would forgive Sephiroth, throw the hatred over her shoulders and forget the general's sins, fighting to shape her world in a whole new better place. In the memory of his long lost friend, Cloud would put his feelings towards the general aside, and take that chance to settle things with himself and with the world.

"Alright." Cloud said, stepping forward. Sephiroth jerked his head in the direction of the younger man, shocked. He didn't reply, because he believed that if he did so, something foul and crude would escape his lips – and Sephiroth hated to lose his control in front of others. Also, if a new life meant ending Hojo's, he would do whatever it took to see the man suffer in his hands. He would have to banish his disgust and outrage for the boy.

The general nodded.

The Goddess smiled and opened her arms. "May the end of your journey award you the gifts you seek for, and may your path be righteous and truthful."

The last thing both men saw before waking up on Gaia was a flaming meteor in the sky being washed away and ultimately destroyed by the soft waves of a green stream.


	2. Awakening

A/N:

_Thank you so much, dear reviewers. I also want to thank everyone who fav'd this story. Thank you so much :)_

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. I wish I owned Sephiroth, though.

Rated T for mild language and the "occasional" violence.

Sephiroth and Cloud, but no yaoi whatsoever. Hints of CloudxTifa

* * *

So Near, yet so Far

_Awakening_

A strange light penetrated through his lids.

He couldn't feel his limbs – did he even had a body? Cloud tried to remember the past events: the encounter with Sephiroth in the Void, after the great battles with Bizarro Sephiroth and Safer Sephiroth, the two uncanny transformations that revealed the true power of his enemy. His party had managed to defeat the monsters, but possessed no power to eradicate Sephiroth immediately. Cloud had fallen into the Lifestream, to a place called the Void, where his nemesis waited for him. And then Sephiroth's sword struck his stomach– yes, Cloud still remembered the unbearable pain, running through his body, slowly crushing his skull into pieces. And after that, everything went black.

Those memories triggered another one – an important memory. The memory of waking up and feeling a soft bed of flowers underneath and the smell of grass and the moisten earth. And a golden light, beautiful and mysterious, covering a forgotten and unimaginable world that could only be accessed through death.

Cloud opened his eyes suddenly, being blinded by the green hue of the stream that floated around him. _A floating river_ – its soft waves flowed slowly, echoing the whispers of thousand voices, from the dead, from the living, from those who co-existed between worlds. He then remembered the words of the Goddess: "That means that inevitably you'll be bound to each other". Oh crap, now he remembered!

Rising to his feet, Cloud looked around – he was standing now on a metal platform. A red light was being projected from the ceiling, offering an almost spooky illumination to the room. Rows and rows of pods were lined in levels ascending to the ground. The rows of pods were intersected by a metal staircase that led to an arched door with an inscription on its top. Cloud swallowed dryly while reading the inscription – Jenova.

He remembered that place – it was the Mako Reactor, on Mt. Nibel – the place that led to Sephiroth's insanity and consequently to the Crisis of the planet. He looked around again. A feminine body was lying on the floor. Cloud rushed towards it – Tifa! Of course!

"Tifa" he whispered, crouching near her.

"…You promised…You promised that you'd come…when I was in trouble…"

Cloud looked at her lovely face, her glimmering eyes and parted lips. The boy reached for the single strand of hair that fell to her forehead and put it carefully behind her ear, with a tenderness that almost surprised him. Long ago he refused the choice to confess his feelings for the girl, perhaps too embarrassed to let any feeling come out of his expressionless features. Also, he only understood in the end that the mixed emotions that he felt towards Aerith were just a ghost of Zack's love for the flower girl. An emotion that had passed to his heart through his friend's memories.

But now he knew better.

Cloud picked her up carefully and tenderly leaned her against one of the pods. Then he made his way up the stairs and into Jenova's chamber. He didn't draw his sword, though.

"Sephiroth?" he stated, almost bluntly, at the entrance of the chamber. The silver-haired man was facing a large pod, where a strange (almost disturbing) female creature slumbered. His gloved hands were moving through the surface of the glass, eager to reach for his mother; his forehead was touching the pod, as if the man turned into a child, watching the snaked through the zoo's glass.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud repeated. He asked himself if the man remembered the conversation with the Goddess. If not, the nightmare would repeat itself and the boy wanted to avoid that at all costs.

The man turned to the boy silently, his aqua-eyes piercing Cloud's soul. _"Shit"_, the blond mumbled, slowly wrapping his fingers around the Buster Sword's hilt. He prepared for the attack, positioning himself on a defensive stance – however, the attack never came. Sephiroth's arms fell limp to his sides and he calmly crossed the way out of the room and passed by Cloud without muttering a word. The man made his way to a destroyed pod, where Zack laid, his uniform covered in blood.

"Sephiroth." Cloud said again, feeling the urgent need to talk but without knowing what to say. The general's eyes turned to Cloud, burning, countering the soft words that escaped his lips:

"Yes, Cloud Strife, I believe that is my name. And before you start calling it again, I want to make clear five things before you do whatever you intend to do next: 1 – I don't like you - I actually hate you - and I'm holding back the imperative need to choke you to death, because there was no night in this blood damned world in which I haven't dreamt of doing it. 2 – Don't ask me what happened, because I don't know. The Goddess' words weren't clear: she didn't tell us if we were going back in time to "attend" to this opportunity, or if we were going back to life, or even a mixture of both. 3- In terms of space, if you already noticed, we are in the Mako Reactor of Mt. Nibel. In terms of time, I think that this moment is located right between the time when 'I beat Zack up' and the time when you 'stabbed me in the back.'" An unusual ironic tone crossed Sephiroth's voice with those words. "4- I am not here to make things right. I am here to make Hojo pay up for being a bastard, and I am here to make everyone in Shin-Ra pay up for being idiotic and turning the world into a world of thoughtless people. 5 – I really don't intend being nice to you, so never expect soft words, compliments or other kind of bootlicking stupidity to come out of my mouth. And with that, we're settled."

Cloud watched dumbly as Sephiroth attended to Zack. He was healing him – a soft green light emerged from Sephiroth's arm, spreading through the black-haired man's body and slowly closing up his wounds. _"Too slowly"_ Cloud thought inwardly. The thought of Tifa's stiff body popped up.

"You have to heal Tifa." the boy said suddenly. Sephiroth didn't even shrug, concentrated in the power of his healing materia. However, Cloud continued. "Tifa is badly wounded – from your sword, remember? She faced you before you entered Jenova's chamber. She had your sword and you… you cut her down." Cloud felt a burst of anger erupting from his body and the even more urgent need to kill the man who hurt his friends, his mother, Tifa, and the man who destroyed his hometown. God, the words of the Goddess were a heavy weight on his shoulders – how could he be chained to such a destiny, to be unable to avenge everything he cherished?

"I hate this" he finally said, crouching and putting his head between his knees. He tried to calm himself, but couldn't. The evil was lurking near. The headache returned, more powerful than ever – however, he found something else inside his heart. Distress and a strange feeling of emptiness, like there was no one in the world that cared about him. _'But I have Tifa, Vincent, Barret, Cid…even Aerith. I am not alone.'_ He reminded himself. That feeling could not belong to him – he felt it, but it didn't come from his heart.

He heard Sephiroth's voice:

"Something's wrong."

"_Everything's wrong"_, Cloud thought, shutting his eyes tight. Then he felt a hand grab him by the strands of his blond hair and pull him upwards.

"You heard what I said?" Sephiroth asked, bitterly. "Something's wrong."

And everything around them changed. Cloud felt as if the floor disappeared under his feet, and he saw everything on turmoil, spinning, spinning, nonstop. Scenes of his past slipped in front of his eyes – a promise beneath the moonlight, the warm smile of a long lost friend, his hometown on fire, people screaming and disappearing under the flames in cries of agony. Then he saw a blade slice through a flower girl's stomach, and the delicate sphere of green materia plop into translucent water. Cloud growled in agony, but his scream was lost in the humming of the planet, and once more, everything went black.

* * *

Before everything went black, memories from Sephiroth's past swept in front of his eyes – at first they were simply excerpts from his childhood – the memories of metal tables, reports, monitors and graphs. Then he remembered looking at a mirror, at sixteen years old, thinking briefly that perhaps he was different from the rest. He never had the desire to talk about his fears, his ambitions and his musings to others, assuming from the beginning that they wouldn't understand his feelings. Consequently, he kept all of his thoughts for himself, momentarily letting slip some opinions about the world to his friends, Genesis and Angeal. But even Genesis and Angeal betrayed him.

Finally the images stopped swirling and Sephiroth felt his feet again. Cloud was standing right in front of him, grabbing his head – if the boy was feeling the same burning pain that he was feeling, he wouldn't judge him. For Jenova's sake, that headache was becoming unbearable.

"I don't understand." Cloud said, looking faintly at the general. "What's this place?"

Sephiroth looked around. White, glowing trees surrounded them, and the grass where their roots penetrated the ground was a tone of fainting blue. In the distance, they could see pale, twisted buildings, as if made of large and resistant bones. He remembered that place: the place where he killed the Cetra girl, who was trying to summon Holy. The place where he manipulated Cloud, trying to make him feel guilty about his acts, about the weakness of his soul. Yes, he remembered well that place.

"The Forgotten City" Sephiroth said, looking around. Was that another memory?

No, he concluded, when a bitter pain crossed his chest. He raised his hand to his chest, feeling the scar drawn in his skin, a thick and rude line created by Cloud's brutal attack at the Northern Crater. Back at the Promised Land, his scars were healed, and when he was transferred to the Mako Reactor, he could feel no pain – so it meant he was finally back to life. Along with Cloud, unfortunately.

"What happened?" asked Cloud, moving towards Sephiroth. The man backed away, his eyes glaring. _'Get away from me',_ he thought.

"We're back to life." the man said, regaining composure. There was no reason to be afraid of Cloud anymore. Fear? What an embarrassing feeling. Throughout his journey to the Northern Crater he had facing that upsetting emotion, convincing himself he felt only disgust about the boy – after all, Cloud stabbed the Shin-Ra's most glorious general, the one who won the war against Wutai and all the rebellion forces in Midgar. All that power flowing through him, and he got stabbed by a rookie whose only strength was in his anger.

"Really?" the boy mused, looking around. The air was incredibly light around them compared to the heavy pressure down on the Northern Crater. Sephiroth felt like he was floating – he had been too much time on that crater. "So what do we do now?"

"Stop asking questions." Sephiroth spat, his face adopting an annoyed expression. "I know as much as you do. Stop acting like a scared little boy."

Cloud frowned at the statement and stepped to the lake. Looking down at the calm waters, his gaze changed subtly. Sephiroth hid a smirk: the death of the Cetra still bothered the boy. It still stalked Cloud everywhere: knowing that he couldn't save his friend, one of the only things that still bound him to Zack, the pup.

"I'm not acting like a scared little boy" Cloud said, looking at the water's surface. "On other hand, you're the one acting like a scared little boy. All your plans failed, and you can't find anything to fight for. Even if what you seek is revenge, it will be quicker than you think. Than what? Will you kill yourself? After you get your revenge on Hojo and Shin-Ra, what do you think you'll do? Killing someone is a quick act – above all, you should know that. Killing Hojo and the president will perhaps fill your idea of revenge. And after that? What do you plan to do? You are powerful, but only in a physical way. Emotionally you are completely useless – you can't control yourself, you can't chose what's wrong from what's right. When you move, you're following the sound of your prey's steps – you walk blind by your hatred and the thoughts that others put in your head."

Sephiroth felt his fist clench involuntarily. Cloud was the puppet, not him. Cloud was the weakling, the easily controlled. How was he turning the story against him?

"You said before that you hated me, Sephiroth." Said Cloud. "I can't hate you. I just despise you and feel pity of you."

This was enough to trigger the rage within the general. He suddenly advanced forward and his fist lifted quickly, meeting Cloud's jaw in a dry and loud blow. The boy almost fell into the water, lying near the shore, his arm sunken into the water. Sephiroth backed away, looking at the boy's jaw – the bone had moved, dislocating the bone that connected to his skull. The puppet lifted his hand to his jaw, moaning in pain. However, the act of opening his mouth to protest in pain caused him even more agony.

Something clicked within Sephiroth: if Cloud died, so would he. If Cloud die, Hojo wouldn't pay. Shin-Ra wouldn't pay.

"Shit" he said, leaning towards the boy. He rarely cursed – after all, Sephiroth hated to low his class. He was a controlled man, who could use his words to escape from every situation, and to maintain his posed posture.

Once more, the general used his cure materia. The faint light erupted one more time from his arm and gently glowed over Cloud's jaw, slowly healing the lower part of his head. The boy grunted and lifted a hand to his chin, rubbing his fingers and feeling the juncture of his bones. Twisting his lip, Sephiroth rose up, stepping back to a nice position near the border of the lake. He waited as Cloud slowly got up, massaging his jaw and head.

"So. What do you intend to do?" asked Sephiroth, resigned. He observed his surroundings, catching the glimpse of a little green shine in the depths of the lake. Blinking, he ignored the sight, turning to Cloud again. "You are the hero here. So please state your opinion – what do you intend to do?"

Sephiroth's tone was sarcastic and slightly arrogant. That new life was getting him a poignant new attitude – he had nothing to lose now. He could spit all of his venom because no one would judge him anymore. Primarily Cloud – yes, the boy was the main target of such poison.

"I don't know" said Cloud. Sephiroth sighed hopelessly and covered his head with his gloved hands. That boy thought too much – once in a while he should jump blindly into the middle of the crowd, cause trouble, produce some noise, change things and make the difference. '_But perhaps'_, Sephiroth reminded himself_, 'that's what distinguishes us. And to distinguish a God from a Traitor is a mere compliment. Because a God doesn't fear the consequences of his acts – he acknowledges that in the end he will triumph, and the path that guided him to his victory is only a mere detail of his success.'_

"You don't know?" asked Sephiroth, cocking and eyebrow. "If you don't know, what about that mighty speech with those heroic words? My apologies if I offend you, but I could not care less. If you want to make the difference, _make it_, do not talk about it."

"Do you want to follow the Goddess' words? To protect me and let me protect you, to help fulfilling our opportunity?"

Sephiroth looked at the boy. "I have no choice, do I? The idea of revenge is stronger than pride. If I have to protect you in order to kill Hojo, I swear I will. After I fulfill my quest, however, you are on your own. We part ways and take different paths."

Cloud nodded, looking again at the water. Sephiroth swore he saw again that green glimpse of light, and it seemed as if Cloud saw it too. '_Holy _' he whispered, remembering the sight of his blade piercing the fragile Cetra's body. _'A young woman willing to sacrifice herself for the good of others. Summoning the ancient gods to protect the planet from the dark forces. The boy may be annoying, but great warriors and great people follow him and accept him as their leader. I wonder about the meaning of that. I wonder about his true virtues – was mere luck that kept me from detecting him behind me in that night at the Mako Reactor? Was mere luck that kept me from seeing the man that would mark me with this scar forever? And remind me every day that even I can be absent and forget my duties and all my training?' _

"We're heading to the Bone Village, then." Cloud concluded, stepping away from the lake. He looked one more time to the still waters and his face suddenly softened. Sephiroth felt Cloud's emotion within him. Perhaps after their death, that strange bond that the Goddess talked about, also connected a bit of their feelings and memories – just like what happened with Cloud and Zack after the incident at Mt. Nibel.

Sephiroth stepped forward and following Cloud's lead, he penetrated the forest of white trees.

With his fingers curled around the grip of his sword, naturally.


	3. Confessions

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters.

Rated T for mild language and the "occasional" violence.

Sephiroth and Cloud, but no yaoi whatsoever. Hints of CloudxTifa

* * *

So Near, yet so Far

_Confessions _

Cloud stood against the wall of a building. His arms were folded and his head was leaning forward onto his chest. The night thickened around him, the sky growing dark while the sun disappeared on the horizon. As light ran short, Cloud's emotions started to order themselves, letting him thinking more clearly about this whole new situation. What a heavy burden on his shoulders: he and Sephiroth were now companions. Partners. Pals. They had to help each other, and that bound forced Cloud to let his feelings of companionship and trust dominate his spirit

So where to start? Now that fate had irremediably and unjustly joined them, what were the goals? Sephiroth wanted to take revenge on Hojo and Cloud simply wished… to fix what he had done. Try to forgive himself for Aerith's death, confess to Tifa his feelings for her and start a family. Cloud never had a family. His mother died at Nibelheim's incident and his father had abandoned him when he was only a little boy. Without brothers, the only family that Cloud could count on were the people that he cherished and considered as "friends". And now that he was willing to face a future with Tifa by his side, the word "family" transformed into a shining and _possible _future.

"Where do you want to go now?" asked a voice behind him. Sephiroth had slipped from the interior of the inn and was leaning against the stone wall of the building. He looked at Cloud through fierce jade colored eyes.

"I... Tifa." Cloud didn't know what to say. Where could be Tifa now? After Midgar had been destroyed, where could be his friend? He then understood that he had no idea where to start his new journey. Cid would be surely in Rocket Town again, Red would be in Cosmo Canyon and Yuffie surely returned to Wutai. But what about Tifa…? And Vincent? Vincent didn't have a home - he had been imprisoned at the basement of Nibelheim's mansion and wouldn't go back there, locking himself up in his coffin in that dark lair. Barret also didn't have a home. He and Marlene had to find a safe place to live. And what happened to Reeve, the Turk that controlled the Cait Sith doll through their journey to destroy Sephiroth? What happened to the Shin-Ra staff and the Turks now that the President was dead?

"You don't know" said Sephiroth, calmly. "You have no goals."

"That's a lie!" exclaimed Cloud, suddenly angry "I just don't know where to find my friends."

Sephiroth didn't answer immediately. They just stared at the dark sky for a while. The silver moon seemed to be smiling at them. Then Sephiroth said:

"I intend to go to Midgar. I know I will find Hojo there."

"How do you know that? Midgar was destroyed. Hojo is probably dead."

"No. He's alive, and in Midgar."

Cloud had no idea how Sephiroth could justify that feeling. He constantly had those feelings when they were travelling. He had a "feeling" that it was about to rain or he had a "feeling" that in the next corner they were going to find a comfortable inn to spend the night. Cloud was becoming accostumed to those "feelings" because they were actually incredibly accurate. After all, even in his second life, Sephiroth remained the most powerful warrior in the world. The blond know that the general's materia's potency was so high that it could achieve levels far superior to human reach.

"We'll go to Midgar, then" said the blond, shrugging. "I don't know where to go. Maybe the journey will bring up some answers."

In the next few days, Sephiroth showed to be a good walker, knowing how to guide himself through the extensive net of roads. The quarrels between the two men slowly faded away: the pleasure of hating each other was gone because they couldn't fight. However, they naturally didn't talk nicely. Some words of convenience, a lot of ironic commentaries and insults, and, in general, a heavy silence. Cloud remained attached to his thoughts, replaying in his mind the words he would say at the future meeting with his friends. It was even harder to find a good reason to be sticking to his most hated enemy. He asked himself, above everything, if they would even believe that he had been at the Promised Land and that his behavior on his first life had been judged by a council of Ancients and the Goddess herself. What if they tried to attack Sephiroth? How embarrassing could be to stop them of destroying once again that insane man?

Relatively to Sephiroth, Cloud couldn't even imagine which were his thoughts, if he possessed any. What could a crazy man think about? A man that had been possessed by the mind of a powerful alien body, a calamity from the skies?

At the end of a few days, they embarked on a ship to Midgar. They avoided the company of each other as much as possible, making sure that they spent the most part of the time in opposite spots in the ship. After two days of horrible meals, bad hygiene and unknown smells, they saw the continent. It was a grey and brown spot in the horizon - dry lands that once had been green and fertile. The view was completed by a chain of tall mountains that divided the continent in two parts. And then, well visible in a desert valley was a place of distorted ruins, centered by a tall and partially destroyed tower where the most influent and powerful people of the world once lived. Cloud felt a kind of nostalgia in his stomach when he saw the city and a knot formed in his throat, so tight that he couldn't breathe. Loose memories started to fill his mind: some of pain, others of happiness. And Tifa's face appeared often, those dark delicate eyes watching him carefully.

Cloud rubbed his face with his hands and sighed. Then, when he lifted his head again, he noticed that Sephiroth was right next to him, with his hands grasping the ship's rail. _How can he appear without making any kind of noise…?_

"Midgar means a lot to me" said Sephiroth calmly "I grew up there, between those walls."

Cloud looked at the general carefully. The older man's tone was incredibly and doubtfully serene.

"99% of the memories that I have of that place are of pain. They tortured me, exposed me to experiments, hit me, forced me to be the best. I learned to be cold-hearted and passionless and above all, I learned that I shouldn't let my feelings interfere with my work. When I was a kid, I hated those petulant and decadent officers, the scientists that thought that they had brains of gold, the soldiers that thought they had arms of steel. But I am grateful to them, because I became what they wanted me to become. A perfect soldier."

Cloud almost rolled his eyes. However, he continued curious and intrigued with Sephiroth's words. The man never spoke much. Why was he now opening up his heart like that? Did he even _have _a heart?

"I like to hate" Sephiroth continued "Hating is good, gives me a goal. Everything becomes liver. Everything makes more sense. I loathe a lot of things. After all, I lost the few things that I cared about. Now all that I have left is hate."

Cloud couldn't answer to that declaration. The atmosphere was incredibly heavy around them.

"My life sucks" he said "I think it always sucked."

Sephiroth didn't answer, continuing to look at the horizon where the city of Midgar rose.

"I have never been someone. Not what I wanted to become. I didn't even feel satisfied when I stabbed you. I knew there was still a lot of things to do and the satisfaction of defeating you never exceeded the feeling of loss. The loss…" and he couldn't find words to complete the sentence.

"I don't know what I am doing here" said Sephiroth "I don't know what the Goddess wants me to do. I don't know what is left here for me."

Cloud looked at the sea and saw his trembling reflection. Sorrowful blue eyes glanced back at him.

"This is the calm before the storm. Something's yet to come."

"I can feel it" completed Sephiroth.

"I have some challenges waiting for me. I have bonds, here on Earth. Things to restore, things to tell. Things to unveil. Things to build. I have bonds. Yes, I have bonds."

"And you despise me." Said Sephiroth, raising one corner of his mouth. Was that a smile? Well, if it was, it surely was a sad smile. "The hatred that I feel brings despise. That despise feeds my hatred. An unending cycle. A _healthy_ cycle that makes my blood pump. It's healthy for me. Makes me live."

"Stop talking" said Cloud suddenly. "Please, stop talking."

Sephiroth hesitated between the thought of continuing talking and annoy the boy or to keep silent and acknowledge the reasons for that order.

"You have to stop talking because… because I hate you. And if you talk, I will pity you. I pity things and I don't want to pity you. I don't want to pity you for having an horrible childhood when mine was happy. I don't want to pity you because you hate everything and I cherish a lot of things. I don't want to pity you for not having bonds here on Earth, when I have so many that they begin to confuse me and make me suffer. Just stop talking."

The general chuckled darkly - a bitter laugh.

"Stop talking, Cloud Strife. Stop talking. Because if you continue talking I think that I can hate you even more. And I need to control my urge to kill you."

Cloud looked at the general with his mouth wide opened. The look, however, wasn't reciprocated. Sephiroth remained silent and serene, the long strands of his silver hair framing his stubborn and bitter face.

And after half an hour of silence, Sephiroth spoke again.

"Tomorrow you'll find someone. But that someone isn't who you are looking so desperately for. Prepare yourself for the meeting."

Cloud nodded, distracted but strangely aware of the man's words.

"Do you know who it is?" the blond asked.

"Maybe. I don't remember the name, however. But I will not tell you who it is. I don't want to make your life any easier."

"You hate me."

"Yes."

"I think I also hate you."

Sephiroth chuckled again but in a softer way than before "You are not sure?"

"No. After all, I think I have never been sure of anything."

"I pity you, then. I've always been really aware and certain of my actions and feelings."

"Don't pity me!"

"I can't avoid it. It seems that in the end of the day, I can also pity people."

"Are you going to kill Hojo?" the question was so spontaneous that even Cloud was surprised by his own words.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"The bastard deserves."

"Don't you _pity_ him?"

"No. I hate him like I hate you."

"And you think he deserves his death."

"Naturally."

Cloud nodded.

"It's the big cat" said Sephiroth. "You'll find the big cat tomorrow."

And then he backed away, leaving Cloud alone with his own thoughts.

And the blond spent all night looking at the ceiling, trying to find the right words to explain Red why he was travelling with his worst enemy and the man that almost destroyed the world.

* * *

_A/N: Thank you, my readers and reviewers. I am back to the story because I found a new writing method that makes the chapter process much easier. Instead of writing directly in English, I start by writing in my own language and then translate the whole text. It makes everything simpler! _

Also this chapter may have some mistakes and needs revision, but I will not be active in a few days so it will need some work after I return from my trip :D

_Thank you for reading! As always, reviews are really appreciated ^_O^

(Thanks to Pixxee by the recent review. It made me remember that the readers have been waiting for this story for so long and I was being selfish by not updating it.)


	4. Realizations

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters.

Rated T for mild language and the "occasional" violence.

Sephiroth and Cloud, but no yaoi whatsoever. Hints of CloudxTifa

* * *

So Near, yet so Far

_Realizations_

Sephiroth watched Cloud closely.

They walked side by side underneath a luxurious ceiling of tree branches. They need that the trees would disappear a little ahead, giving place to the arid lands that now surrounded Midgar. Although they walked together for many weeks and started to feel accustomed to each other's presence, the distrust that they felt was still visible. Sephiroth walked with his fingers circling Masamune's hilt, always cautious about the movements of his arch-enemy. Even with that entire story about the Goddess, he knew that a misplaced attack of fury could quickly end one's life. After he was defeated by Cloud, Sephiroth stopped underestimating his true power. It was a spontaneous power, vaguely constant or trained. A power based on the emotions and feelings of the boy; a power molded according to his mood and beliefs.

Above that, Sephiroth saw that Cloud seemed more anxious than never. After he mentioned the possible meeting with that feline creature, Cloud seemed more absent then ever, and, above everything, much more trustful about his enemy's actions.

"Where am I going to find Red?" asked the blond as they walked.

Sephiroth sighed.

"I do not know."

Cloud shrugged and replied: "You say you _feel_ things. In our journey on the upper continent, you know the exact_ path _and the best roads to cross the forest. I didn't know if I should base your knowledge on the memories of your past life or not. Now that it seems obvious that you can control your "feeling" and mold it for your benefice, I think that "I do not know" is an absolutely invalid answer."

"It's obvious that if I _wanted_ to know where we will find the cat, I was able to tell you. A quite detailed report, in fact. The decisive factor here is that I _don't want to know._"

After finishing his sentence, Sephiroth stopped next to a tree. It was a big oak, centered by an old and large trunk. The tree bended its wide shadow above their heads. Sephiroth sat very calmly on one of the dark rocks that was pilled above the roots and said:

"We will stop here for I while." Then, he unsheathed Masamune and laid it on his knees. He took a round, fancy looking stone from the interior of his coat. It fitted perfectly in a grown man's palm, but its deep color made it look heavier than it was.

"I think I can walk for a little longer" said Cloud with his lips tightened in a determined line. Sephiroth didn't raise his gaze to the boy. He stroked the stone against the foil of his blade; the harsh sound of stone against metal echoed through the forest. He then repeated the gesture, observing the blade of his weapon with expert eyes.

"I think you cannot" he replied and stroked once again the stone against the blade. The movement became swifter and more repetitive, the object sliding from the hilt to the sharp edge of the sword. Understanding that Sephiroth didn't feel like abandoning the sharpening process of Masamune, Cloud circled the tree and sat at the opposite site of his nemesis. He leaned against the trunk of the tree and folded his arms, not knowing if he was waiting for Sephiroth to end what he was doing or if he was waiting for Red to fall on top of him in any minute.

Then an idea crossed his mind: _What would Red be doing so close to Midgar if his home was at Cosmo Canyon which was very far away from that place?_

He rose and circled the trunk of the tree again. Sephiroth continued his work, looking almost lovingly to his sword.

"You lied to me!" shouted Cloud. The stone stopped his way across the blade. Sephiroth met Cloud's furious gaze with a smile.

"You should have more wits. It seems you are stupid enough to believe the words of the man that most hates you on the universe."

"You are right. Hoping for a little honesty from you is only a fantasy." Said Cloud exasperatedly.

Sephiroth put the stone away, apparently satisfied with his work. He grabbed the sword and balanced it on the top of his hand, right next to the hilt. Then he positioned himself in an attack stance and cut through the air with the blade. After that he sat, laying Masamune on his lap and leaning against the oak. He looked at Cloud with curiosity. Not so long ago he wouldn't dare to sit calmly atop a rock while his enemy pierced him with mortal indignation. However, the situation had changed completely.

"You aren't hoping for us to become _partners_, are you?"

"That's what the Goddess' expects from us. That was the opportunity she gave us in order to live this second life. That's why she made us dependent of each other. She certainly waits some kind of alliance between us."

Sephiroth looked at the trees, evaluating the boy's words. Cloud was right, in a certain way. Even if it was morally repulsing, the Goddess was probably waiting for some kind of partnership between them. Then she was a fool of a Goddess! Was it possible to wait for a mutual hatred to become something merely and remotely related to friendship? When Sephiroth looked at Cloud, he could only feel deep despise and blind hate. That boy, so untalented in the arts of magic and battle, without any kind of battle intelligence, had stopped him of becoming a God! Within, Sephiroth thanked his telltale inner composure, with which he could control the quivering loathing that assaulted his heart from time to time.

"I am going to take a stroll." He rose and without facing Cloud, buried himself in the depths of the forest.

In the moment, he was walking around randomly. The forest was raised in patterns of green and brown, symmetrical everywhere, like a perfect pattern of life in nature. Sephiroth faced forward, his mind reaching some world or dimension where he was allowed to think more clearly. While he was thinking, his mind dropped in some abyss where he considered wise to kill Cloud, quenching his thirst for revenge and also finish his own life. After all, what they were offering him in that new life was some pathetic excuse to compensate the world of the damage he had caused. Unfortunately, Sephiroth had no intention in undoing what he had done, making that new existence only useful to attend to matters that called more revenge and destruction. Falling in an even more deep abyss of his mind, he could distinguish the clear voice of his mother within his head. Jenova, clearly alluring, filling up his heart of desire of power, Godhood and wisdom. Jenova, that promised him so much in life and was able to show him a way through the darkness in order to achieve his wishes and final goal.

Sephiroth felt a disturbance around him. Stopping on his tracks, he knelt beside a tree and observed the footprints marked on the dirt. The foot was clearly human, but much smaller than his or Cloud's. It had distinct horizontal marks, like the footprint of a mountain boot. He looked around but saw no movement in the bushes or in the trees. The hiding person was good at doing it, considerably talented in remaining quiet and unmoving. But silence and immobility weren't the only main factor of stealth. The trespasser forgot a very strong one: the smell.

Following the trace of the wind, Sephiroth followed a vanilla perfume (For Pride's sake, who would use such a thing?), until he was five foot away from a group of brushes. He detected a little movement in the leaves and in a quick fraction of movement, unsheathed Masamune and touched the man's neck with its blade. He heard a loud gasp

"Please, let me live! Please..." beneath the bushes and an alarmed ruffle of branches and leaves. And then the man was on the ground, covering his face with his arms and begging for dear life.

Surprisingly, Sephiroth found out that he was not threatening a man; in place of the mysterious master thief that he expected was a girl. She was young and skinny and her hair had been cut off right below her ears. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a black tank top trimmed with white flowers. She was wearing the mountain boots that the general indentified on the mud. On the belt that circled her hips hanged various types of knifes. Strapped to her back was a weapon that Sephiroth saw regularly in the war against Wutai. The girl seemed suddenly familiar, although he couldn't remind their meeting. He pushed Masamune's blade harder against her neck, winning back a whining on a hysterical voice.

Before Sephiroth was able to answer back, he heard a ruffle behind him and Cloud rushed into the scene. When the boy's eyes descended in the girl's direction, a mask of surprise covered his face.

"Yuffie!"

_Yuffie?_, Sephiroth repeated the name in his head, trying to remember where he could have had meet such a creature. He could still feel the unbearable smell of vanilla in the air. It seemed like the young girl had bathed in a tub of perfume.

Cloud knelt and leaned on the girl. With a frown, Sephiroth sheathed the sword, analyzing the scene. After all, the puppet had met that despicable little brat. Their friendship was visible in the blonds' worrying and surprising look, as he helped her getting up. Feeling that he didn't belong in that place, Sephiroth stepped back and patiently waited for the conclusion of the situation, wondering if would be better for him to go back to the oak.

"I am more miserable than I can recall in a long time!" the girl spat. When she faced Sephiroth, however, a scared look crossed her features. She turned back to Cloud and shouted: "You should be dead! Everyone thought you were dead!" she unstrapped her weapon off her back and pointed it towards Sephiroth "And you! You also should be dead! What are you doing here? You bastard!"

Sephiroth's eyebrows rose in surprise. That silly little creature just called him a bastard?

When Yuffie seemed to try to attack Sephiroth, Cloud placed himself in the middle of the two. The girl stopped right in time and looked at Cloud with an astonished face.

"Cloud! What are you doing? I don't understand what's happening! What is this all about? Why is he alive? Why are _you _alive? Why are you protecting him? And why are you here? We thought you were dead for about two years!"

Sephiroth saw something changing in Cloud's face at the sound of _two years._

"Has it been two years already?" Cloud asked, feeling puzzled. Then he faced Sephiroth. "It didn't seem like two years. It seemed like we wake up here right after… you know what."

The silver-haired man didn't answer. For him, two years were a very short and insignificant piece of time. In his life, two years didn't seem to make such a different, not after he was _killed_ by Cloud in the Northern Crater. Suddenly Sephiroth thought if he and Cloud were aging in that moment. Some of the impacts of their pact with the Goddess were still unknown, after all. What if they were now immortal and were conserving their bodies forever? What if the time, for both of them, had stopped?

"What's happening here?" Yuffie's surprised look had been replaced by one of fear. Her eyes shone in a sinister way, as if she thought that their meeting was something unreal. "Oh my God. I'm dead, aren't I? And you are here because you should also be dead. That's it, it makes sense. You aren't even attacking each other. I am dead, that's it! I was killed for stealing the materia from that stupid guy back in Midgar! He followed and stabbed me in my sleep."

Cloud rubbed his face, trying to maintain his posture. He lowered his hand to Yuffie's shoulder to calm her down. His words sounded tender, even if a little disturbed:

"Yuffie, you are not dead. You are alive. Me... and Sephiroth are back from a kind of 'world of the dead'. It's a long story."

Yuffie seemed even scared after hearing those words. She backed away to the bushed where she had been and knelt, covering her face with her hands. After that, she started babbling something, where the words "Wake up… wake up!" were pretty recurrent. Seeing this, Cloud crouched beside her and circled her thin shoulders with his arms. She sobbed underneath his embrace, completely desolated due to the events. She probably thought she had gone mad. Sephiroth watched the scene relatively calm, even if his fingers were tense touching Masamune once in a while. He now remembered that girl and her weapon: a shruiken. She, just like Cloud and the rest of the crew, challenged him in his final battle and stripped him off of his most powerful form, with which he thought he was able to achieve Godhood. The realization of that fact made Sephiroth suddenly alert; the girl, even though she looked fragile, was certainly power or she would be unable to reach the dark depths of the Northern Crater. Nonetheless, he had already been surprised by the incarnation of power in a weak body. That thought made trembling images of the Cetran girl flash though his mind.

"Yuffie..." Cloud seemed truly concerned about his friend's well being. That honestly annoyed Sephiroth. He was finding out that the boy was still a mystery to him, even if he looked really shallow on the outside.

"Why don't you attack him, Cloud? Why is he alive? We fought so hard to defeat him and there you are, sitting on your butt. He's right there, goddamn!"

_She has a sharp tongue as well_, thought Sephiroth, rather amusingly.

"I cannot kill Sephiroth" the boy said. Then he added, quite loudly "Although I'd like to. Yuffie, you may not believe this, but… do you remember the story about the Promised Land? We were there. Me and him. And do you know the legend about the Goddess? She was there."

Yuffie looked blankly at Cloud.

"Yuffie, you may think this isn't true, but it is. For an unknown reason, the Goddess gave me and Sephiroth another life. She said we aren't still done in this planet. She says we have something else to do."

"Why don't you kill him?" Yuffie's fixation in killing Sephiroth was obvious.

"I cannot. In a way, he's part of me now."

The girl looked at him blankly once more. Sephiroth sighed and stepped forward. Yuffie backed away immediately, falling backwards and supporting herself with her elbows. Cloud looked menacingly at Sephiroth and grabbed the girl's arm in an attempt to protect her. Sephiroth sighed once more and touched her trembling foot with his, trying to figure out the best words. After all, he was never able to _handle children._

"If you kill me, Cloud dies." He said simply. Seeing that his sentence made no impact in the girl's knowledge, he added. "The Goddess made a pact with us. If Cloud is ever harmed or killed, I will die in consequence. If Cloud kills me, he dies in consequence. It's as simple as that."

Yuffie's mouth was dramatically ajar.

"That's bullshit." She added and got up, sweeping the dust and dirt out of her shorts. A vision of pride possessed her features and the weak look that she portrayed minutes ago was replaced by a cold cockiness and arrogance. She looked at Sephiroth at the top of her nose, evaluating him. Once again, the ex-general raised one eyebrow at her annoying personality. And the stench of vanilla for pride's sake!

"I have been stealing for a while, actually" she said, walking around Cloud. "I don't want to get back to Wutai. I found out that I prefer the life here on the continent. There's more materia here. And Tifa lodges me on Midgar so I guess there's no problem with that."

"Tifa is in Midgar?" Cloud's hopes rose to an incredible level. His face became brighter and his eyes more vivid. Sephiroth also wondered about that. Was love, what the boy felt about that girl? If so, why did his face change every time he heard her name? Once again, Cloud's whole existence was a mystery to Sephiroth.

"Yes, she's in Midgar. I mean, not in Midgar. In Midgar's Edge. After Midgar was destroyed the citizens had to build provisory homes for them around the debris of the city. Tifa bought a nice cozy house and rebuild 7th Heaven. She's quite happy with her life now."

Cloud looked at the ground and said: "I have something very important to tell Tifa. You have to take me to her."

"Actually, I don't think that's a good idea." The teenager said, folding her arms stubbornly. "I think she's not prepared to see-"

"I don't care if she's prepared or not. I have to talk to her. There are so many things I wanted to tell her but I left unspoken. If she thought I was dead, she has the right to know that I am not. Even if it's shocking for everyone, I am not dead. I came back to do what's right and to stop avoiding my life."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. He had an immense list of sarcastic and ironic comments to make, but right now, he preferred to watch that amusing show and save the comments for later. After all, if his theory about their bodies being immortal was right, then he would have all the time in the world to make them.

At least if none of them got tired of living.

* * *

_**A/N: **_Thank you for reading! This one was fun to write. You thought I was going to put Red in this chapter, huh?

As always, review :)


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